"In this mandamus action, Qwest Communications International, Inc. presents an issue of first impression in this circuit, namely, whether Qwest waived the attorney-client privilege and work-product doctrine, as to third-party civil litigants, by releasing privileged materials to federal agencies in the course of the agencies' investigation of Qwest." So begins an opinion that a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit issued today. Today's ruling states: "On the record before us, we hold that the district court did not abuse its discretion in declining to apply selective waiver."Posted at 09:15 PM by Howard BashmanOn this evening's broadcast of NPR's "All Things Considered": The broadcast contained segments entitled "Divided Supreme Court Rules on Wetlands Law" (featuring Nina Totenberg) and "High Court Approves of Using 911 Calls as Evidence." RealPlayer is required to launch these audio segments.Posted at 08:54 PM by Howard Bashman"Court Gives Philip Morris $2B of Bond": The Associated Press provides a report that begins, "The Illinois Supreme Court on Monday returned some of the massive appeal bond that Philip Morris USA posted in a lawsuit over the company's 'light' cigarettes."Posted at 08:43 PM by Howard Bashman"Supreme Court Justices Show Support for Wetlands Protection": David G. Savage of The Los Angeles Times provides this news update.

1. The Court issued its ruling in Rapanos v. United States, No. 04-1034. You can access the syllabus for this splintered 5-4 ruling at this link. Justice Antonin Scalia announced the judgment of the Court and delivered an opinion in which the Chief Justice and Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito, Jr. joined. The Chief Justice also issued a concurring opinion. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy issued an opinion concurring in the judgment. Justice John Paul Stevens issued a dissenting opinion, in which Justices David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Stephen G. Breyer joined. And Justice Breyer also issued a separate dissenting opinion. You can access the oral argument transcript here. Additional background on the case is available at this link.

3. The Court issued its ruling in Samson v. California, No. 04–9728, holding by a vote of 6-3 that the Fourth Amendment does not prohibit a police officer from conducting a suspicionless search of a parolee. Justice Thomas delivered the opinion of the Court, in which the Chief Justice and Justices Scalia, Kennedy, Ginsburg, and Alito joined. Justice Stevens issued a dissenting opinion, in which Justices Souter and Breyer joined. You can access the syllabus here; Justice Thomas's opinion here; Justice Stevens' dissenting opinion here; and the oral argument transcript here. Additional background on the case is available at this link.

The Court also issued a per curiam opinion in Youngblood v. West Virginia, No. 05-6997. You can access the per curiam opinion here; Justice Scalia's dissenting opinion, in which Justice Thomas joined, here; and Justice Kennedy's dissenting opinion here.

You can access today's Order List at this link. The Court today granted review in three cases and called for the views of the Solicitor General in an additional case.

One of the cases in which review was granted today is Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood Fed'n of Am., Inc., No. 05-1382, which presents the question "Whether, notwithstanding Congress's determination that a health exception was unnecessary to preserve the health of the mother, the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 is invalid because it lacks a health exception or is otherwise unconstitutional on its face." You can access online both the federal government's cert. petition and its reply brief in support thereof. It is interesting to note that the federal government, even though it is the petitioner, in fact opposed as duplicative the granting of review in this case.

Shortly after 10 a.m., Lyle Denniston will begin providing real-time coverage at "SCOTUSblog" of today's developments from the Court. The Associated Press will also provide prompt news coverage here and here. The Legal Information Institute at Cornell Law School is typically the first place where you will find online the Supreme Court's newest opinions and Order List. At the Court's own site, you can currently access all of this Term's oral argument transcripts, and you will eventually be able to find the opinions and Order List issued today.

Stay tuned throughout the day for continuing coverage, although my initial coverage of today's U.S. Supreme Court opinions and orders may be slightly delayed.Posted at 09:45 AM by Howard Bashman

"Call a search a search": In today's issue of The National Law Journal, Law Professor Michael Goldsmith has an essay that begins, "We will never know whether the National Security Agency telephone data-retrieval program meets constitutional norms because the U.S. Supreme Court has defined the issue out of existence."Posted at 09:23 AM by Howard Bashman"Law firms learn how to compete; Rivalry forces attorneys to act like a business, seeking data on other firms and their clients":This article appears today in The Boston Globe.Posted at 09:20 AM by Howard Bashman"How Racial Preferences Backfire": Stuart Taylor Jr. has this essay in today's issue of National Journal.Posted at 09:08 AM by Howard Bashman"A warranted decision: Court gets the 4th Amendment right."This editorial appears today in The Manchester (N.H.) Union Leader.